AWAPUNI GOLD CUP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27040, 26 March 1949, Page 5

AWAPUNI GOLD CUP

MEMORABLE RACE LIKELY Although the Manawatu Racing Club’s autumn meeting opens to-day the feature events will not be run until next Saturday. when the Awapuni Gold Cup and the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes will be decided. The Gold Cup has attracted some of the best horses racing in New Zealand and if the club is successful in bringing King’s Ransom, Tauloch, Frances, The Grate, Demonic, Lord Manna and Voltaic together it should be a memorable race. Voltaic won the race last year by a nose from King’s Ransom, who was considered unlucky not to win. The race, however, was a farcical affair, the mile and a-quarter taking 2min 15sec, compared with 2min 6sec taken by hacks for the same distance. This year, to make certain that the race does not result in a sprint over the last half mile, the club has included a clause in the conditions of the race stating that the stake will be reduced by half if the race is run in time more than ssec slower than the time taken to run the Tainatete Handicap, the main open handicap, on the same day, unless the stewards think it necessary to waive this condition. King’s Ransom beat Tauloch in the Trentham Stakes at weight-for-age in the track record time for one mile and three furlongs of 2min 17sec, and then won the Wanganui Cup. He finished second to Voltaic in the Jackson Stakes over one mile, and at Trentham recently he was in the minor money in the principal distance races.

Voltaic was a sprint winner at Trentham in January, but he failed later at the meeting. He then won the Jackson Stakes, and, after running third in the Thompson Handicap, he won the North Island Challenge Stakes. In a solidlyrun race King’s Ransom may finish too well for Voltaic. Lord Manna and Demonic have both been good handicap winners. Demonic has finished on well at the end of a mile and he may not be troubled by the extra two furlongs. Lord Manna is a proved stayer and it will be interesting to see how he will fare at weight-for-age. The indications are that he will more than hold his own.

The leading three-year-old of the season. Tauloch, is also entered for the race and there is every chance of him taking his place in the field before going on to Auckland for the Easter carnival. . Other high-class performers in the race include Royal Tan, Da Vinci, The Pagan, Ci'tril. Beau le Havre, Aggravation and Avenger. The early favourites for the race include Tauloch, Lord Manna and King’s Ransom. Some high-class horses hav* won the Gold Cup since the race was first run in 1915. Desert Gold won the race three years in succession, while Nightmarch and Silver Ring were successful two years running. Sasanof won the race in 1919 and 1921, while other well-known performers including Rapine, Wild Chase, Beau Vite, Kindergarten. Langue d’Or and Beau le Havre have been successful.